1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to digital signal processing applications and, more particularly, to such applications in which a coder/decoder (CODEC) is employed to convert analog signals into a digital format (A/D conversion) to be manipulated with signal processing algorithms, and which is used to convert digital data back to analog form (D/A conversion) to be outputted.
2. Description of the Related Art
As is known, many applications require a coder/decoder of this type to convert more than one signal path—such as in telephony applications where conversion channels are oftentimes employed for speech processing, ring detection and battery monitoring. In a typical usage, a single processor interfaces either to a single CODEC in the processing system or to multiple CODECs. Where a single CODEC is employed, its design includes multiple channels which are time-division multiplexed amongst the various signal paths. Where multiple CODECs are used, on the other hand, a more expensive system results—making the configuration generally unacceptable for consumer uses. Where the signal processing functions, furthermore, are handled by single processor, the performance of the system becomes reduced as bandwidth is consumed in transferring data back-and-forth between processors. Limitations thus follow in employing a single processor with multiple CODECs, or when employing multiple processors with either a single CODEC or a multiple CODEC system.